Gaia’s Garden in Auroville

Prisma has just released a new book that focuses upon one of the most beautiful gardens in an Auroville community. Gaia’s Garden in Auroville contains many photographs, taken through the seasons, of the flowers, trees and interesting corners of this labour of love of Dutch Aurovilian, Kireet Jak, a project which he describes as “an interaction and play with nature waiting for the unexpected surprises of Mother Nature”.

It also contains some memorable quotes about gardens and soil, including Emerson’s “A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered”, and Daniel Hillel’s meditation on the link between soil and humanity. “The ancient Hebrew association of man with soil is echoed in the Latin name for man, homo, derived from humus, the stuff of life in the soil. This powerful metaphor suggests an early realization of a profound truth that humanity has since disregarded to its detriment.”

This is a handsome little book. The only improvements I would like to suggest for the next edition is that the names of the beautiful trees and shrubs are indicated and that the eccentric typography – bold fonts alternating with italics – is dropped for something a little less distracting to the reader.